Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

In fact, if any member of the opposition had bothered to turn up, they would have realised that, when Qantas was supporting the government's application to terminate the bargaining periods and cease the industrial action, at no point did Qantas allege that, if they had just had a chance to speak to the government before 5 pm, none of this would happen. Qantas never put that on the record in the 12 hours of legal hearings.

Furthermore, at no stage did Qantas make an alternative application and say that the government should be pursuing another section of the act. In fact, it was very clear that the independent umpire, the Fair Work tribunal, acted decisively and made its decision. Thank goodness this government put in place this act to provide for a tribunal that would stand up to resolve the industrial action.

Let the record be clear: if Qantas and Alan Joyce had not taken the industrial action against the workforce, these planes would not have been grounded and there would have been no upheaval to the Australian economy.

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